Cook’s Charleroi Town Hall to Focus on Economic Development and Wolf’s Philadelphia-Favored School Funding Formula

8/9/2018

BENTLEYVILLE – Rep. Bud Cook (R-Washington/Fayette) is inviting Charleroi Area School District residents and all other concerned citizens to join him Thursday, Aug. 16, for his next Town Hall meeting. Beginning at 6 p.m., this informational meeting will be held in the Charleroi High School—Conference Room, 100 Fecsen Drive, Charleroi.

“Comprehensive planning for the future, economic development and Local Share Account (LSA) funding are just some of the featured issues we will be discussing at this fifth in a series of town hall meetings that I am proud to be hosting across the 49th District in 2018,” said Cook. “Another potential hot topic is the governor’s recently announced basic education funding formula revision. House Appropriations Committee data shows that this plan would significantly slash state education dollars to every school district serving our future leaders in Washington and Fayette counties.”

During an event in Philadelphia, Gov. Tom Wolf spoke in support of distributing 100 percent of the state’s Basic Education Funding appropriation through a new formula that would send more money to big city school districts (i.e. Philadelphia) and substantially less money to rural districts. Specific education funding decreases for District 49 school districts, based on the 2018-19 state budget, would be as follows:

“Clearly, the governor is seeking to take as much as possible from Southwestern Pennsylvania school districts to reward his most loyal supporters with nearly $350 million in increased funding earmarked for schools located in greater Philadelphia,” added Cook. “Sadly, this is just another example of how desperately the governor is out of touch with the Mon Valley and the rest of rural Pennsylvania. Without question, I will reject any legislation that is created based on Wolf’s ludicrous education funding formula.”

Cook will open the meeting with an update on current local and state legislative issues. The forum will then transition to a panel discussion where attendees will have the opportunity to ask questions and further discuss issues impacting the community. In addition to Cook, panel members are expected to include representatives from the Redevelopment Authority of Washington County, Mon Valley Alliance and Mon Valley Initiative.

Interested individuals should register for this FREE event as soon as possible by calling Cook’s Bentleyville district office at (724) 669-2242.